We are still recovering from the serious black riff-mongery of VI which features members connected to the Aosoth horde and now another collective entwined to their family tree are here to conjure up more potent magic, making it a real double whammy for label Agonia Records. Also indoctrinated into this French group on their fourth full length album we have members past and present from Hell Militia, Antaeus, The Order Of Apollyon, Helel and various other outfits meaning that you are well aware this is likely to be a potent listening experience before play is even pressed. I was pretty well convinced on just the first listen here and with repeated spins the mastery and might of Mysterium has really got beneath the skin and impressed no end.
Lord of Knowledge and Death starts this 55 minute descent with a creepy ceremonial sounding mass of eerie foreboding sound drawing you into the labyrinth with great atmosphere. A guitar line gorgeously drenches you in a cloak of obsidian mystery as the album title suggests and things gloriously build up into a slow and gradual yet devastating explosion of unholy strength. Bordering on the blackened death side of things due to the gravid vocal growls of singer Amduscias this swaggers away and brutally cleaves with the melody never compromised in the slightest. Drumming is hefty at the backbone and the production is suitably mighty as the track twists away entwining complexity with moribund breaks over the near ten minute running time which is faultlessly constructed to epic proportions. Throwing in a spiralling solo and a hellish scream this pretty much has everything and is one hell of a bold opening statement but something the band manage to keep up with finesse throughout the rest of the album’s tracks. The riffs attack like a swarm of wasps as things power into Magna Gloria Tua adding spite and venom as the vocals are contemptuously spat out. Again the melody is thick with the musicianship being even faster as it pounds and seethes away. It’s not all about speed though as parts are added to slowly glisten and uncoil from the mainframe of the songs, indeed at the half way mark of the album there is time to breath in the heady shorter treatise of Dictum Ignis illuminating with the promise of fire to come in the next massive slab of anti-hymnal devotion. Riffs are captivating throughout here and the tracks all have plenty going on within them keeping things far from one dimensional. Quite often you will find yourself trying to keep up with a flailing solo playing air guitar along furiously as you bang your head away.
Although each track forges its own sense of identity it is one of those albums that really needs to be listened to in an all-consuming constant whole as everything strikes as being intertwined, unspooling and shifting within itself. This makes choosing one particular standout moment impossible, the entire album is excellent and there’s not an ounce of fat despite the complexity of the songs and length of the album itself. If you are a die-hard and pick it up on vinyl you get the bonus of Bathory cover The Golden Walls Of Heaven too but even with that this is a staggering statement of intent and worship is highly recommended; no false gods here!
(8.5/10 Pete Woods)
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